The present invention relates to a functional apparel item incorporating the use of a measuring appliance (i.e. a method of using a measuring appliance) and to a process for determining the serviceability of a functional apparel item.
There are a host of materials which on contact with the human body are absorbed by the skin, potentially leading to serious physical harm (noxae). Examples are chemical toxicant and noxiant materials, in particular chemical warfare agents, for example the vesicatory mustard gas (Hd, Yellow Cross) and the nerve gas sarin. People liable to come into contact with such highly toxic materials have to wear suitable protective equipment or be protected against these toxic substances by suitable protective materials.
Appropriate protective suits are available to protect the body, in particular the extremities and the trunk. The head, in particular the face and also the respiratory tract pathways, are generally protected by wearing NBC protective masks with or without hoods.
To achieve effective protection against the aforementioned toxic substances, NBC protective apparel is traditionally made either from completely impermeable systems (examples being suits made of butyl rubber) or else permeable adsorptive filtering systems based on activated carbon (powder, fibers or spherocarbon). Protective suits against chemical poisons that are intended for prolonged use under a wide variety of conditions must not lead to any significant heat build-up for the wearer. Air-pervious materials are therefore used in the main. Air-pervious, permeable protective suits generally possess an adsorbing layer of activated carbon which binds the chemical poisons very durably, so that even badly contaminated suits do not represent any danger whatsoever to the wearer. The great advantage of this system is that the activated carbon is also available on the inside surface, so that poisons that have penetrated at damaged or otherwise leaky locations are very rapidly adsorbed.
In principle, however, it is disadvantageous that such protective apparels generally possess a time-limited serviceability or durability. The reason for this is that the protective apparel becomes contaminated or polluted with toxicant or noxiant materials in the course of a deployment for example, and this may also lead inter alia to any adsorbing materials present in the protective apparel becoming saturated. In the extreme case of severe contamination or pollution of the protective apparel, adequate protection of the wearer from the toxicant or noxiant materials in question is no longer completely ensured. In addition, ageing processes play a great part with regard to the utility of protective apparel. For instance washing operations, decontamination measures, but also wearing or deployment times for the protective apparel, the action of chemical substances and the like lead to a significant decrease in the quality of the material and thus to a limited wearing time.
To counteract ageing processes, prior art protective apparel is stored for example in sealed, i.e. airtight, in particular depressurized, secondary packaging.
Especially against the background that a wearer of the protective apparel may occasionally be exposed to materials, such as chemical toxicant and/or warfare agent materials, that are highly toxic and fatal in small doses, ensuring effective protection by the protective apparel is extremely important to avoid noxae to the wearer of the protective apparel. Against this background, it is very important to be able to make a statement about the fitness for purpose or serviceability of the protective apparel, in particular when the protective apparel has been stored for a prolonged period or has just been used.
However, such a determination of the fitness for purpose or serviceability of the protective apparel is often associated with immense difficulties, since time- and cost-intensive analyses of the protective material to be investigated have to be undertaken in this regard. This applies in particular in the field—for example in the course of a military deployment—since a large number of protective apparels have to be investigated or analyzed under highly adverse conditions. A quick and informative determination of parameters characterizing the serviceability of protective apparel is often not possible in this context.
In addition, there is also immense interest in obtaining information about the serviceability of protective apparel as a function of the time since removal of the protective apparel from the secondary packaging or of the number of washing or decontaminating operations, the wearing time and the degree of contamination. However, this cannot be done quickly and simply using prior art means. In addition, the serviceability of protective apparel shall also be assessable with reference to its storage. Serviceability can be appreciably worse when the protective apparel has been defectively stored for example too warm, too moist or in non-airtight secondary packaging.
Against this background, then, the present invention has for its object to provide a functional apparel item, such as a protective apparel, that at least partially obviates or at least ameliorates the above-described disadvantages of the prior art. More particularly, there is to be provided a functional apparel item whose serviceability can be quickly and simply determined or evaluated even under adverse conditions.
By way of achievement to the object stated above, the present invention proposes a functional apparel item, in particular a protective apparel having a protective function against biological or chemical toxicant or noxiant materials. Further, advantageous embodiments are the subject of additional embodiments of invention.
The present invention further provides for the use of a measuring appliance capturing at least one measurable quantity (i.e. to the method of using a measuring appliance capturing at least one measurable quantity).
The present invention finally provides a process for determining the serviceability of a functional apparel item.
A first aspect of the present invention is thus a specifically equipped, functional apparel item, in particular a protective apparel having a protective function against biological or chemical toxicant or noxiant materials.
One particular feature of the present invention's functional apparel item is that the apparel item is equipped with at least one measuring appliance. The measuring appliance is such that it is capable of capturing at least one measurable quantity, for example a defined environmental factor, and thus can be used for determining the serviceability of the apparel item. It is thus one central idea of the present invention that a functional apparel item is equipped with a measuring appliance which captures at least one measurable quantity and with reference to which the serviceability of the apparel item can be quickly and simply determined. Owing to the use of a specific measuring appliance, a rapid and reliable statement about the serviceability of the present invention's functional apparel item can thus be made directly on the spot, for example while still in the packed state or after removal of the apparel item from the secondary packaging or in the field.
It is particularly possible in the realm of the present invention to so to speak custom-tailor the measuring appliance in relation to the measurable quantity to be captured, so that for example specifically temperature, pressure, moisture, radiation, pH measurable quantities and/or a measurable quantity resulting from and or induced by the presence of a chemical substance, for example of a biological or chemical toxicant or noxiant material, are capturable. This must be viewed as a further key idea of the present invention.
The present invention thus represents the first successful making available of an apparel item comprising a measuring appliance configured for specific determination of the serviceability of the functional apparel item according to the invention. Such a principle has hitherto not been known in the art. True, there is prior art where garments in particular are equipped with electronic components, but these are not intended for specific determination of serviceability.
DE 103 50 869 A1 describes a garment with integrated electronic components selected from sensors, actuators, electronic switching units, memory components and antennas. However, the sensors used in this document merely serve to determine the posture or movements of a wearer of the garment and the garment is chiefly to be used in the sports sector to optimize movement sequences. Furthermore, DE 103 57 193 A1 concerns an electronic label for textiles whose transponder arrangement is completely embedded in adhesive, the label being exclusively designed for storing and transmitting data concerning the textile. Furthermore, DE 103 11 185 A1 concerns a label for identifying textiles which is contactlessly readable by means of radio waves. The label serves exclusively to store information items about the corresponding textile, such as laundering instructions. Finally, DE 101 55 935 A1 concerns a smart label for textiles to store data which comprises a textile backing and a flexible wire or a threadlike electric conductor comprising at least a connecting point for an electronic component.
Further advantages, features, properties and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments based on the accompanying figures, where: